MARGINS, EXPENSES, AND PROFITS IN RETAILING MEAT 37 
total expense percentage took place. The relatively high relation 
indicated definitely that in those stores where the average annual 
sales per employee were greater, lower total expense percentages 
would be found than in markets where the average annual sales per 
employee were low. Low average annual sales per employee thus 
implied high total expense percentages. 
The analysis was next directed toward the determination of the 
possibility of the smaller meat dealer attaining high average sales 
per employee. Although there was some tendency for the larger 
average annual sales per employee to be found in the stores of higher 
sales volumes, the relation did not seem to be of great significance. 
The correlation of sales per employee and total sales of the market 
gave 0.45 where 1 indicated a perfect agreement, and where indi- 
Total Expense, and Salaries and wages 
according to annual sales per employee 
In Individual Retail Meat Markets, 1923 
ANNUAL SALES EXPENSES AS PERCENTAGE OF NET SALES 
PER EMPLOYEE Q 5 | |5 20 
25 3( 
DOLLARS | I 1 
LESS THAN 8,000 H|f§| 1^^^^^^^^ 
1 1 
8,000 TO 10,000 ■ ^^^^^^^^^^ 
1 
1 0,000 TO 12,000 1 B^^^^^^^ 
1 1 
'2.000 to ,*,ooo Kiiiiiin inn 111 trnmummmmm 
■ -.000 to ,6,000 \BmmmKamammkmm 
,6,000 to ,8,000 pfBBBIfflfflBHRtMmMi 
i8,oooto 20,000 mimmmmBB^MW/M 
1 1 1 
20,000 AND OVER bBHBHH«%^%%^ 
1 1 1 
l 
Salaries and Wages 
Other Expenses 
Fig. 3. — Salaries and wage expense as a percentage of net sales decreased as the annual 
sales per employee increased. As salaries and wage expense constituted approximately 
two-thirds of total expense when estimated wages for the proprietor were included, 
there was shown a tendency for total expense to decrease also with increases in the 
annual volume of sales per employee 
cated no agreement. The relation was, therefore, relatively low 
and of only moderate significance. 
The implication from this analysis is that in a number of stores 
of smaller volumes of sales the managements had been able to bring 
about efficient use of employees' time, thereby obtaining the benefits 
of the lower total expense ratios to sales, which resulted from the 
larger average sales per employee. Increased volume of sales in the 
market, then, is not necessarily accompanied by increased efficiency 
in the utilization of employees. 
There thus appeared to be justification for the conclusion that, in 
this group of unlimited-delivery stores, increases in average annual 
sales per employee were to a great extent the result of efficiency of 
management. The significance of this conclusion lay in the fact 
that proprietors of some of the smaller stores were able through 
efficient utilization of employees to obtain lower operating expense 
